Podcast host: Aasmah Mir

Aasmah Mir is an award winning broadcaster and journalist. She currently co-hosts the Breakfast Show on Times Radio and writes a regular column for The Times.

Guest: Mark Cheng

Mark Cheng is a leading impact investor who has invested in and helped raise over $250million for social ventures – purpose driven companies with a mission to achieve social and environmental goals. He is a coach and advisor to many social enterprise leaders in areas including education, healthcare, sustainable agriculture and clean energy. Mark is the founder of Social Innovation Circle, a partnership of social innovators driving new business models for social impact, and a member of the Leadership Group at Ashoka, the global network of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. Ashoka supports more than 4,000 CEOs and founders of social sector organisations through its prestigious Fellowship program in over 90 countries.

Prior to becoming an impact investor, Mark was an investment banker at Deutsche Bank and later at AMBAC Assurance, an insurance company where he was responsible for a credit portfolio of over $8billion of infrastructure lending. He is a guest lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Hong Kong, and writes and speaks frequently on social entrepreneurship and finance. He is the author of the Social Investment Toolkit, a manual for start-up social entrepreneurs in how to raise investment. Mark is based in Hong Kong and London.